Missed Exit Signs
by eclaire291
Summary: Jason Todd does not miss being part of the Bat family. He really doesn't. It's not his fault Batman's sidekicks are like bad pennies. [Ongoing. Latest: Prompts 121-140.]
1. Chapter 1

**Title** : Missed Exit Signs  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Jason Todd (with lots of characters and multiple pairings)  
 **Notes** : I found a 153-count, one-word prompt list and decided to give it a try to get some creativity flowing. Most of the sentences are unrelated and detail different times/events. Word of warning: I play it fast and loose concerning the nature of the Bat-family relationships.

* * *

 **Missed Exit Signs  
** Prompts 1-20

 _001._ Bullet  
Jason Todd has a single bullet hidden, tucked in his jacket pocket — for Batman, he vows — but he's looked down the barrel of his own gun a few too many times to fool himself.

 _002._ Lesson  
When Barbara Gordon beats him halfway into next week with those damn eskrima sticks Dickie-bird usually carries around, all while in her wheelchair, well, that's one lesson Jason doesn't forget.

 _003._ Wind  
It blows in through the cracked window in his rundown apartment — the stale smell of cigarette smoke, sewer fumes, musky sweat and body odor, the warm-heavy stench of trash bags in the sun, brackish water and the eye-watering aroma of rotten fish from the docks — the worst (best) parts of Gotham that Jason knows like the back of his hand.

 _004._ Resurface  
Dick Grayson calls his old cellphone the entire night after figuring it out, after figuring out the identity of Red Hood, but Jason pretends not to hear it ring because he's not ready to resurface just yet.

 _005._ Winter  
Every winter solstice, Alfred Pennyworth leaves a scarf draped over Jason's gravestone.

 _006._ Cruelty  
He thrilled at the crack of Batman's rib under his fist and the sight of blood dripping down the older man's face, but the greatest cruelty was the fact that Batman kept forgiving Jason.

 _007._ Uncle  
When he finds out about Dick and Barbara, he fights back any disbelief and instead says, "Don't forget to wrap it, Boy Wonder, because I'm not ready to be an uncle."

 _008._ Happiest  
It was such a stupid thing, but the happiest moment of Jason's life was sitting on Spring Bridge with the sunrise to his back, Barbara leaning against him, and just a small reminder of who he wasn't before he went back to Roy Harper and Koriand'r.

 _009._ Bunting  
"I'm not _bunting_ for you," Jason spits out at Dick's suggestion that he distract the bank robber so Dick can take him down — and later Dick tries not to roll his eyes when Jason shouts "homerun" after knocking the robber out with a baseball bat.

 _010._ Stalked  
"I don't appreciate being stalked, kid," Jason says, 63 years old and retired — definitely too old for this shit — when some tech-head from Brooklyn with a batsuit shows up on his doorstep and tells him Nightwing sent him to get information on the Joker.

 _011._ Immortality  
When the Joker reemerges months after the warehouse explosion that almost-but-didn't kill Jason a second time, Jason is convinced that there's no human left in that walking monster — that he had to sell his soul to the devil or something because there was no other explanation for his apparent immortality.

 _012._ College  
He pretends he doesn't care but he can't help but feel relieved and proud and happy when Barbara leaves for college — at least she had enough sense to get out of the Bat-game while she could.

 _013._ Sauna  
Roy and Koriand'r decided to surprise Jason with a sauna vacation — and by surprise, that is, Kori drags him bodily as Roy follows laughing his ass off at Jason's cursing and futile struggle.

 _014._ Carnivore  
"Sorry, babe, I'm a bit of a carnivore," Jason quips, and Poison Ivy is decidedly unamused.

 _015._ Clutch  
He usually boosts vehicles with manual transmissions because he always liked the snag of the clutch when he shifts gears, but he finds he doesn't miss it too much when he's zooming down the streets of Gotham in a hotwired Batmobile.

 _016._ Wednesday  
He sneaks down the hallway feeling like the shadows are following him and ducks through a doorway but before he can make it across the room, two figures bear down on him, tripping him headfirst into the basket of clothes in his arms, which makes him realize — as Barbara somehow manages to incapacitate Dick with the same wire currently wrapped around Jason's ankles and then cheerfully dump her dirty clothes into the washing machine — that Laundry Wednesdays were the worst.

 _017._ Cavity  
As much as he hates Batman for everything, he can't bring himself to just walk away because who he used to be, what he used to be, that's all still there, just a cavity near his heart that won't go away.

 _018._ Engaged  
She doesn't bring attention to it or shove it in his face, but he notices the glint of light off the diamond as she raises her hand to keep her hair from blowing into her face as Jason steps on the accelerator.

 _019._ Saint  
He's no saint, that goes without saying, and he doesn't exactly hold Dick in the best regards but his conscience still nags him as he leans across to the passenger seat and kisses a stunned and newly engaged Barbara.

 _020._ Sinner  
And as quickly as he pulls away, he realizes what sort of damage he's done because Barbara had always been the best of all them — Jason, Dick, and especially Bruce — and here he was trying to make her as much a sinner as he was; he's glad when she gets out of the car and storms away.

* * *

 _Author's Notes: Well, this was part one (also known as the mostly Jason/Barbara section). The second part will see a different relationship form._


	2. Chapter 2

**Missed Exit Signs**  
Prompts 21-40

 _021._ Vacation  
After a week in the Wayne manor avoiding Dick's glares, explanations of the nerdy boy's latest tech-capades, the creepy chick skulking through rooms only for that overly cheery blondie to intercept her with pleas to go shopping, transparent attempts by Barbara to bring Jason back into the Bat-cult, and that little ninja kid attacking him for no reason and screaming about sending him back to hell — well, Jason needed a vacation from this vacation.

 _022._ Outcome  
When Jason held the gun out to Batman, begged the man to finally stop the Joker once and for all, they both already knew the inevitable outcome of the encounter.

 _023._ Replacement  
Not even a full year has gone by since Jason's death when Tim Drake is brought into the fold, handed the Robin uniform like nothing happened; Jason will never see him as anything but a replacement.

 _024._ Westbound  
He's racing the sunset on the motorcycle he stole from Dick, ignoring the angry tone of Dick and the panicked Tim on the comlink, demanding he come back to the Batcave; he gives the bike some throttle and speeds westbound.

 _025._ Smallest  
"Admittedly, Dick is worthy of some ridicule, but why do you always have to harass Tim?" Barbara asks him, and in a mock whisper Grayson suggests that "it's probably because Jay has the smallest—" but she cuts in, "Dick!"

 _026._ Revealing  
"Don't you think that's a bit revealing?" Jason asks, gaze unabashedly following the long slit running up the black, slinky dress currently clinging to Barbara.

 _027._ Mistake

It isn't until he's brought down face first to the sidewalk with a sharp knee between his shoulder blades and a batarang — wait, where had she even been keeping that? — against his throat that he realizes his mistake: don't mess with a feisty redhead in stilettos.

 _028._ Abusive  
Gritting his teeth against the searing pain as he slowly removes the Red Hood mask, he glances at the cracked, dingy mirror and catalogues the latest wounds from a run-in with Batman while Jason was on the wrong side of the law: a bruised rib, cut on his collarbone, several puncture wounds in his legs and hip, broken wrist — well, Jason always did think their relationship was abusive.

 _029._ Melodramatic  
"Don't be so melodramatic," he says when Tim freaks out after Jason drops a mugger-turned-killer off a roof.

 _030._ Paranoia  
He thinks his paranoia is justified after the first few times the kid kicked him in his, ahem, assets, so he decides to start wearing a cup anytime he's in the same room with Tim.

 _031._ Surprise  
Dick pinning him to the mat during a practice fight isn't too unusual, he always was faster, but when his mouth crashes down on Jason's… well, _that_ is a surprise.

 _032._ Parade  
It's like a goddamn parade, Jason thinks in abject horror after yet another sidekick passes through the kitchen and spots him, fixing her glasses and excitedly exclaiming, "You're the actual Red Hood… that is so coo'!"

 _033._ Overindulge  
He figures it's OK to overindulge a bit as he pours another glass of whiskey for Barbara and himself, insisting it's in celebration of her graduation from college and not because she's sad and he's pissed that Dick is nowhere to be found once again.

 _034._ Point  
"Is there a point to this?" he asks cuttingly as he grabs his shirt, hating himself and pretending not to see the hurt in Dick's eyes; he leaves Dick in his bed and escapes the apartment.

 _035._ Mainstream  
When Commissioner James Gordon's election opponent — secretly an Irish mob boss — takes the podium for his speech, Jason leans against the windowsill of the high-rise apartment he's in, takes aim, and prepares to pull the trigger, the cash currently being wired to his bank account by the mob boss' disgruntled second-in-command only part of the reason Jason took this job; Jason always did hate mainstream politics.

 _036._ Antagonistic  
"Are you always such an insufferable prick?" Jason asks after the third time Tim uses an SAT-level word over the comlink while instructing Jason on the mission for no reason that Jason can discern other than being a know-it-all.

 _037._ Book  
"Do whatever you need to do," Tim says grimly as he slips the mission object to Jason, who immediately drops it into the trashcan and sets it ablaze; Stephanie Brown is not amused by Tim's argument later that it was for the best because vampires should not sparkle, and Jason and Tim were just saving her from unreasonable expectations.

 _038._ Sustainability  
Roy gives him a look of incredulity when Jason tosses his soda can in the recycling bin and Jason says, "Hey, I'm all for sustainability — solve world poverty, gender equality, peace and justice for all—" and Roy just shakes his head and laughs, smacking Jason upside the head.

 _039._ Hair  
"I'd keep an eye on him around Dick," Jason teasingly tells a decidedly unamused Artemis Crock when she drops by with Wally West; Dick always did have a thing for redheads.

 _040._ Exchange  
Dick's gone — disappearing without a word, he was more and more like Bruce everyday — and Barbara crosses her arms and stubbornly claims, "I don't miss him" and Jason indifferently echoes the same; it's not the most truthful exchange they've ever had.

* * *

 _Author's Notes: Prompts 41-60 are next (and I truly hope you will find #48 as hilarious as I do)._


	3. Chapter 3

**Missed Exit Signs**  
Prompts 41-60

 _041_. Morning  
Leaning against one of the beams of Spring Bridge, his back to Gotham and entertaining thoughts of leaving, he glances over his shoulder at the city as the sun starts to rise, chasing the shadows and sending all the scum of the streets back into hiding as morning takes hold — the lie, the semblance of light, is too much and Jason makes up his mind.

 _042_. Asphyxiation  
Jason can still feel the burn of the Lazarus Pit on his skin, each breath like asphyxiation and every memory searing poison in his mind.

 _043_. Subjective  
When Jason tells Batman that the Joker should be dead, that Batman should have been the one to do it, he believes he's making the right call but later he admits that his judgement might have been a bit subjective; however, it wasn't easy to look past a madman beating you half to death with a crowbar for no real reason other than to screw with Batman's head.

 _044_. Ring  
He pretends not to notice when Barbara stops wearing her engagement ring, but he _does_ notice and silently vows to kick Dick's ass twice as hard next time they crossed each other in Gotham.

 _045_. Lunch  
When Tim invites him to lunch out of the blue one day, Jason almost says "no" because he'd almost killed this kid not too long ago and people didn't just get over stuff like that, but then Tim says, "Christ, Jason, it's just pizza, come on," so he grudgingly accepts.

 _046_. Discipline  
"He just wants to see you," Dick insists one day after pinning Jason to grimy concrete, "and keeping your temper in check for a 10-minute conversation with him isn't exactly asking too much," except it is because Jason never had the same anger discipline as Dick when it came to Batman, so he kicks up and catches him in the stomach, sending him skidding across the rooftop and escapes down the fire escape before Dick can catch his breath and chase after him.

 _047_. Applause  
He starts a smattering of slow, mocking applause when Damian tells Rose Wilson that she has "some impressive moves" and smirks when Rose hands the wannabe Romeo his ass; however, Jason withdraws his pistol and levels it at her head in a threat he knows he won't have to follow through on, defusing the situation before she can inflict too much damage.

 _048_. VCR  
"Did you kill it?" Tim asks dryly when Jason finally runs out of bullets — damn VCR clock.

 _049_. Sailing  
"You're dead," Artemis says, the arrow in line with his heart when she sends it sailing at him without a moment of hesitation, but he manages to catch it before it hits its mark and chuckles darkly as he glances at his hologram memorial erected in the Young Justice headquarters — a nice touch, and they got his hair right — and then he answers, "Yeah, about that…"

 _050_. Sensitive  
"Are you kidding me?!" Red X asks in disgust, holding up the crowbar that had been sitting on the mantle full of makeshift memorials at the Teen Titans tower, and Beast Boy laughs nervously and rubs the back of his neck, saying, "Oh, yeah, forgot about that," as he quickly turns into the falcon to dodge the anti-hero's attack, adding triumphantly as he swoops past Robin, "Told you he was Jason Todd!"

 _051_. Street  
When he was a kid, after everything that happened with his family, the street was all he had, it was his home and it never occurred to Jason that he could fit in anywhere else until Batman gave him a way out by taking on the mantle of Robin, and now, wearing his improvised batsuit with Tim's blood drying on his arms and face and his side bleeding where Dick had struck him with a batarang, he thinks it's absurd he ever thought it had been a new life he was offered because all Batman did was train him, train all of them, and throw them back out on the same streets.

 _052_. Coupon  
"I am _not_ buying you feminine hygiene products," he hisses to Barbara in abject horror, fairly certain Batman is hiding a smirk as he pretends to be engrossed in whatever is on the computer monitor, and Jason is convinced that this ridiculous request has to be some sort of hazing ritual for becoming Robin as Barbara puts on an exaggerated pout and says, "But I have a coupon."

 _053_. Pattern  
Dick moved on and became Nightwing, Jason became Red Hood, Tim became Red Robin, and Stephanie became Batgirl — it was a pattern of taking on the mantle until realization struck that the respect and trust just wasn't there — so it never ceased to amuse and amaze Jason that the headstrong Damian still wore the Robin mantle, and he couldn't help but wonder if it was the fact that the kid was Bruce's blood son or if the man had finally learned from all his mistakes.

 _054_. Hypocrisy  
"You let that chick in Blüdhaven take out Blockbuster?" he asks, annoyed because Dick never got tired of reminding Jason of the Bat code, and he listens as Dick lays on the excuses that there was nothing he could do, it was for the best, all that crap, but when it comes down to it, Batman's golden boy just got away with murder without dirtying his hands and Jason can't get past the hypocrisy of that.

 _055_. Emergency  
"You've got to be kidding… how the hell did Damian steal the Batmobile?" Dick says after Tim calls from the Batcave to report "an emergency," and Jason can't stop laughing as, in a strained voice, Dick asks Tim to track the vehicle's location before Batman realizes what happened.

 _056_. Majestic  
"Like paste, right?" Tim asks after Jason recalls Alfred's horrible waffles, but when he had just been taken in off the streets by Bruce, there was nothing better than the sight of a majestic mound of food piled in front of him by the butler without a word of complaint as Jason shoveled it down and asked for seconds.

 _057_. Wound  
"I don't need to explain anything to you," Dick says when he confronts him about breaking off the engagement with Barbara, and when he brushes past Jason, the dismissal is like an open wound.

 _058_. Girlfriend  
When he finds out Kori had been Dick's girlfriend, he drops his head to his hands and groans because, really, it's beyond ridiculous, and Jason suspects Freud would probably have had a field day with him.

 _059_. Camp  
"So, how long have you been part of the Bat camp, kid?" Jason asks Cassandra Cain, and her eyes narrow ever so slightly; it goes without saying that she kicks his ass.

 _060._ Health  
With an aging Bruce confined to bed, the man's room now nothing more than a makeshift hospital as Alfred helps him hold onto life just a little bit longer, Jason can't stay away and he sneaks into the room one night after Alfred had fallen asleep and he is almost certain Bruce is unconscious as well; he sinks into the chair by the bedside, pours his heart out — all the anger and bitterness and grief — and that's supposed to be it, last words to a dying man unheard, but then Bruce's trembling fingers close around Jason's hand on top of the bedsheets.

* * *

 _Prompts 61-80 up next. And I'm going to apologize in advance for #61 because the prompt led me to write something not exactly in line with either the canon of the Batman universe or the "head-canon" universes of this collection._


	4. Chapter 4

**Missed Exit Signs**  
Prompts 61-80

 _061_. Pregnancy  
He doesn't know what to say when Barbara suddenly comes to his apartment one day with a pregnancy test, doesn't even have the courage to ask her "who?" because he doesn't want to hear her say his name, and he especially doesn't want to hear _his_ name, and the test turns out negative anyway, but sitting on his tattered couch with her waiting for the results, his hands shaking, Jason realizes he's never been that kind of terrified before.

 _062_. Flag  
He guesses that one time Kori called out Dick's name when they were in bed together, he should have figured it out, it should have been a flag on the play, but he honestly thought she meant something else entirely — or, well, whatever.

 _063_. Tyranny  
When Jason enters the batcave and walks right into an argument between Dick and Damian over whether the kid should train with the Titans, he thinks letting Damian be Kori's problem would be hilarious so he backs up Dick; Damian narrows his eyes, shouting, "This is tyranny! My father would never stand for such a thing."

 _064_. Idiot  
When Dick tells him that he dropped Damian off at Titans Tower and then goes on to innocuously add that Kori looks good, Jason shakes his head because that idiot didn't have a chance of getting back with Kori once she had a project on her mind and Damian was definitely a big, time-consuming, cockblocking project.

 _065_. Loan  
"So, you're the Red Hood? I've met loan sharks nicer than you," Harvey Dent mutters, carefully touching his jaw to assess the damage as Jason chuckles darkly.

 _066_. Snow  
He hates Gotham but he can't help but look out at the city with something akin to stifled awe as the first snow of the season begins to blanket the buildings, the streets, the park, and he enjoys the quiet until Stephanie comes out of nowhere and pegs him with a snowball.

 _067_. Bigotry  
"You really think they'll just accept someone like you back into the fold?" Rose Wilson asks as she runs a finger over the edge of her sword, absently testing the sharpness, and Jason leans back in his chair and wonders exactly what Dick would say about him temporarily helping the Bat family out once again, though he answers Rose with a dismissive, "That sounds like bigotry."

 _068_. Film  
Even when he resented Bruce for being tough on him, making him into a sort of replacement for Dick, Jason still loved Bruce and wanted nothing more than for the man to see him as an actual son, so when the Joker has Jason trapped in the warehouse, each time the crowbar crushes and bruises and breaks another part of his body, he finds himself remembering his time growing up under Bruce's tutelage and the one memory that somehow makes the pain seem farther away is the time Jason was sick with the flu and instead of Bruce going out of patrol without him, he had wrapped Jason in a blanket on the couch and they had watched an old film until Jason fell asleep.

 _069_. Graveyard Shift  
"I thought you quit," Barbara says, gesturing to the cigarette Jason is currently smoking and he shrugs and eyes the thermos of coffee she has in hand, which she offers to him without a word as she settles against the ledge of the roof to observe the mob-run nightclub Jason is staking out; the watch is uneventful and Barbara leaves at daybreak but he's still grudgingly grateful for the company.

 _070_. Booklet  
When he finds a booklet in his pocket for anger management classes, he shouts down the hallway of Wayne manor, "Very funny, Drake," as Tim peeks out of his room and smirks.

 _071_. Love  
"Hey, Dick, how about you go fuck yourself while I'm gone," Jason suggests as he prepares to head to the liquor store and remedy the problem of Dick removing all the alcohol from Wayne manor, to which Dick responds with an offhand, "Love you too, Jay."

 _072_. Genius  
He works hard under Bruce's tutelage, studies a handful of foreign languages, aces every exam and assignment, becomes a member of the honor society; he could be every bit the genius Bruce claims he is, but he always did lean toward self-destruction, so he smokes cigarettes behind the school during gym class and gets into fights just to balance it all out.

 _073_. Perfection  
The one thing that bothered him since the Lazarus Pit was the fact that all his scars were now gone; he didn't like the semblance of perfection.

 _074_. Tomorrow  
Jason collapses on the bed of his old apartment and falls asleep almost instantly, vowing to leave tomorrow; he can't believe he got caught up helping Dick cover a patrol of Gotham.

 _075_. Motto  
"You're making a mockery of my father's memory," Damian accuses Dick one day as he makes some alterations to the batsuit, and Jason thinks self-deprecatingly that those words could be the motto of the Bat sidekicks.

 _076_. Likelihood  
Jason agrees to spar with Cass after Tim dares him because the likelihood of that creepy chick winning against him was less than zero; when he regains consciousness a few minutes later, it's to Cass silently removing the wraps from her hands and the sound of Tim's boisterous laughter.

 _077_. Uninformed  
"Crap," Jason says when he spots the grenade roll across the ground toward him, and he manages to duck for cover if only just barely; he feels like he was severely uninformed when it came to Slade Wilson and reminds himself to thank Rose next time he saw her.

 _078_. Yellow  
He's surprised the bright yellow beacon of color was never nixed from the Robin costume design; he always hated that fucking cape.

 _079_. Shaking  
He leans his arm against the back of the wheelchair, tries to keep himself from dwelling on it, as he offers offhand, smartass remarks while Barbara sorts through data to lead Tim and Stephanie through their first mission without Batman, but Jason can't help the sudden resurgence of hatred for the Joker and every life that maniac tore to shreds; it's only later when Barbara absently reaches back and pats his arm that he realizes his hands are shaking.

 _080_. Dark  
Lying in the dark with the buzz of the city in his ears, Jason stares at the peeling and cracked ceiling of his rundown apartment and tries to pretend Gotham isn't out there waiting.

* * *

 _Prompts 81-100 up next. And I bumped up the rating for Jason Todd's language._


	5. Chapter 5

**Missed Exit Signs**  
Prompts 81-100

 _081_. City  
With Dick wearing the cowl, Jason can't help but think the city needs more than some cocky, bleeding-heart Batman, and he tells him so one night after they find themselves on the same rooftop, chasing after the Penguin, distracted by Jason provoking a fight because he can't help but get under Dick's skin — a solid kick to his jaw later, Jason finds himself on the ground, looking up at a redhead in a Batsuit, and he can't help but wonder if it's Barbara, but, no, he dismisses that immediately when she says with a bit of a smirk on her lips, "I couldn't agree more, Hood."

 _082_. Disposal  
Batman was an expert at running through sidekicks and partners, never quite found the best disposal method, though, because they always came back with a different mantle and a bone to pick with his crime-fighting methods, but Batwoman — Kate Kane — had never been under Bruce's wing; Jason couldn't help but regard her with some respect because at least she knew how to keep the Bat in check without all that personal stuff getting in the way.

 _083_. Profanity  
"You blew up my warehouse, you friggin' bastard! I'll friggin' kill you," the man says, beaten to a pulp but still stupid enough to mouth off, and Jason laughs inwardly and cocks his gun because the hell if he cared about the warehouse, this guy was kidnapping and selling women and the only thing that kept the asshole up at night was his amphetamine abuse; Jason leans close and presses the gun to the man's temple, saying lowly, "Guess how many fucks I give."

 _084_. Punk  
He never forgets the time Alfred caught him smoking in the Batcave while Bruce was away; he always thought he was a rebel but, in that moment, with Alfred looking at him with eyes full of disappointment, he just felt like a punk.

 _085_. Fresh  
"Sorry, fresh out of fucks, babe," he says when Kori leans back on the couch in Titans Tower and tries to ask for advice concerning the recent drama arising between her teenage team; he really didn't care to hear about dating troubles and squabbles over doodles on training schedules.

 _086_. Protocol  
"OK, I found his prints in the FBI database; apparently, he has suspected links to terrorism," Barbara informs them over the comlink, causing Jason to laugh as Tim sputters about how Barbara couldn't have possibly gotten that information on the criminal they were tracking without hacking the FBI, and Jason says appreciatively, "Not exactly protocol, Oracle," and pretends he doesn't know she's grinning.

 _087_. Distinguishing  
"If you want to play Batman, then knock off the acrobatics; it's pretty distinguishing, Boy Wonder," Jason says after Dick takes off the cowl to level him a look devoid of amusement, and at least Dick had mastered the Bat glare.

 _088_. Hate  
When Tim shrugs and frowns and invites Jason to breakfast, sharing with Jason the fact that he would never work with Batman again, Jason isn't fooled because he knows that even if Tim could hate Bruce, he would always be there to support him the way Jason, Dick, and even Damian couldn't.

 _089_. Minimum wage  
"So, what's it like making minimum wage?" Jason asks, slinging his backpack onto the counter and sneaking a cigarette out of the side pocket as he smirks at Dick, but the older teen doesn't even blink as he effortlessly steals the cigarette from Jason and tosses it into the trash, his eyes shooting Jason a look filled with something more akin to exhaustion than resentment as the former Robin asks, "What's it like being second best?"

 _090_. Conspiracy  
Damian shoots Jason a sharp look, his usual frown threatening to evolve into a sort of smirk as he asks with barely contained skepticism, "It's true? You thought you could _stop_ crime from happening in Gotham by becoming a drug kingpin?" and Jason swears he hears Dick snickering into the keyboard of the Batcomputer.

 _091_. Speech  
"Go jump off a cliff, Dick," and that's all it takes for Dick, who'd already been on edge since the mission went awry, to push aside his chair and punch him, and Jason's protest that he hadn't said anything go unheeded because, yeah, it had been his voice, and when Jason catches a glimpse of Tim bumping fists with a smug Damian, he vows to kick that voice-mimicking little bastard's ass.

 _092_. Pain  
He doesn't forget that night when he was full of teenage ego and overconfidence, convinced Barbara had a crush on him; he doesn't forget his stupid attempt at flirting and the sharp look of disappointment she gave him as she told him he'd never be Dick Grayson — those words had been like a white-hot pain in his chest but also managed to act as a sort of strange validation.

 _093_. Birthday  
Since the Lazarus Pit, he didn't exactly mark his birthday so he was more than a bit taken aback when he finds Barbara, Dick, Steph, and Tim in his apartment one night when he comes home, and he acts pissed but he eats every crumb of the dry, overcooked cake Barbara made and might have smiled once or twice even through his sneering remarks.

 _094_. Skeleton  
"Bird-boy, it's been too long. I'm surprised Bats let you out of your cage," Joker leers from his cell in Arkham, and Jason can feel each word like a cracking blow to his bones, can feel the pain take over every inch as if his skeleton is splintering, the blinding rage is secondary but by the time it takes hold, Batman comes out of nowhere and reminds Jason lowly that they're in Arkham to get information from Scarecrow, so Jason walks away; for once, he's glad to have Batman at his side.

 _095_. Wartime  
A bullet to Damian's shoulder, a batarang to Tim's chest, a broken wrist for Dick: all for the Bat name, something Jason never even wanted — _how did this become a war?_ Jason wonders as the blood becomes harder to wipe away.

 _096_. Anomaly  
When Steph pulls him into a hug and he doesn't shove her away, he dismisses the moment as some sort of freak anomaly, but there's just something about this girl that he can't help but find endearing; hell, even Damian was less of a bastard around her.

 _097_. Trust  
Sure, there are times he despises Roy's brashness and finds Kori's naivety insufferable, but when it comes down to it, they are the two people he puts the most trust in.

 _098_. Factory  
"Romantic night," Jason says to Batwoman as they search the abandoned factory that the Riddler was rumored to be using, but she doesn't even glance at him as she says flatly, "Stop talking."

 _099_. Variety  
"Look," Barbara says, pulling on her mask and checking her utility belt, "I like working with someone out on the streets, and Nightwing is in Blüdhaven and things with Batman are…" she trails off, and Jason shakes his head, saying, "Whatever, BG. Hold tight," as he starts up his motorcycle; Barbara shoots him glare, but Jason knows she likes a bit of variety.

 _100_. Curtain  
"Nice, Dick," he says in response to Dick's protest from inside the shower, and Jason fights back a grimace as pain rips through him when he hauls himself in through Dick's bathroom window; he rummages through the medicine cabinet for antiseptic cleanser for the bullet wound to his leg courtesy of Black Mask and glances over his shoulder, smirking when he realizes the shower curtain isn't opaque, adding new emphasis to his earlier assertion, "Nice… dick."

* * *

 _Notes: The characterizations faltered a bit here but something about the prompts in this particular section stumped me. Anyway, prompts 101-120 next. JayDick returns!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Missed Exit Signs**  
Prompts 101-120

 _101_. Heating  
He closes his eyes and tries his best to pretend this isn't happening (again), but it's difficult when Dick's teeth are against his collarbone, every shaky exhale heating his throat, while Jason's hands are rushing up to drag him closer and closer and closer.

 _102_. Suspicious  
He probably should have figured it out by her fighting style, the way she was able to focus all her strength in a single blow while keeping her body in a tight combat stance, but he isn't really suspicious until she modifies her Blackbat outfit, replacing the usual mask with a black neckpiece to cover her mouth and nixing the gloves in favor of white bandages; that is the moment Jason realizes Cass has a connection to the League of Assassins and Ra's al Ghul and, since the Lazarus Pit, Jason had vowed to give them a wide berth.

 _103_. Irony  
"Oh, the dramatic irony," Jason mutters after Dick once again declares that he will never be like Batman.

 _104_. Kleptomaniac  
It's just little things — Tim's pocket first aid kit, Steph's purple hoodie, and now Jason's motorcycle gloves — but it seems like every time Cass manages to win a training spar, the next day something goes missing, and when Jason catches her wearing the gloves a day after she slammed his face into the practice mat, he says, "You know, there's a word for that," but the unreadable stare she levels at him effectively shuts down any gripes he may have.

 _105_. Convict  
"We need to get information from this guy without the other prisoners turning on him," Tim explains as he collaborates with Dick and Barbara on a plan to get in contact a hacker serving 6 years in prison, and then Tim turns to Jason, shooting him a wry look, "and it's not such a stretch to have Jason pose as a fellow convict in the same prison."

 _106_. Riot  
On his second day is the prison, Jason almost smiles as all the cell doors suddenly open and the prisoners pour into the cellblock, fists flying and crude shivs and whatever other weapons were hidden under mattresses are suddenly brought out, and he spots the hacker he was meant to interrogate and makes his way through the chaos, grabbing the guy by the shirt collar and pulling him out of the cellblock to where they can barricade themselves in the kitchens, saying over his shoulder at the hyperventilating man, "Prison riots are a bitch, huh?"

 _107_. Waste  
"This is a waste of time," Jason says one night, sitting up to leave because he always was best at that — and really, what the hell were they thinking with this? — but Dick's mouth is suddenly on the dip of his hipbone as he slowly pushes him back down onto the bed to prove that, no, it was not a waste of time.

 _108_. Human  
"You're not so tough without the hood," Donna Troy says, the threat of a smile touching her lips, and then she offers him a hand as he gets to his feet and, for once, he feels like someone actually sees him as human and not just some broken thing.

 _109_. Naughty  
Because he was always a bit mischievous, he can't help but press his mouth close to Barbara's ear during the charity dinner she dragged him to and whisper until she's blushing; it's worth the punch to the face later.

 _110_. Pin up  
When Harley Quinn props herself up on the desk like some sort of pin-up girl, something in Jason's brain short circuits and he can feel his eye twitch.

 _111_. Nuisance  
Jason doesn't have a problem with Batgirl, or Barbara, or whatever he's supposed to call her, but when Batman starts sending her on assignments that he used to let Jason take on by himself as Robin, he starts to feel like she's his babysitter and that he's just a nuisance on the patrol.

 _112_. Qualifying  
When Dick watches the Olympic qualifying trials for gymnastics, Jason just chalks it up to the former acrobatic relishing the art form, but when some blonde takes the mat, Dick's mouth draws itself into a tight line as he stares hard at the TV screen, watching every move the girl makes and letting out a breath of relief when she manages to narrowly top the Russian gymnast on the leaderboard; it's only years later, with her face hidden behind the Hawkfire mask but the acrobatics giving her identity away, that Jason recognizes Bette Kane, glancing over his shoulder at Dick clad in the Nightwing mantle and wondering how he figured out who she was all those years ago.

 _113_. Plea  
Jason jolts awake, blinking at the darkness as he slowly regains his senses and recognizes the relative safety of his own apartment; he drops he head to his hands because, even alone in the dark, he doesn't want to admit that his nightmares revisited that warehouse with the Joker swinging the crowbar as Jason whimpers a plea for help as his thoughts scream for Bruce.

 _114_. Dominant  
"So, was that your dominant hand you lost?" Jason asks Roy, interrupting the usual argument about what type of missions to take; the question is innocuous enough but Roy's instantly suspicious and answering with narrowed eyes and a confirmation of "yeah, why?" as Jason leans back in his chair with a grin, saying, "Well, I was going to tell you to go fuck yourself, but I guess that must be a bit difficult now."

 _115_. Letter  
"I'm not dead," is all the letter says that was left weighted under a rock on his gravestone, but the looping writing is a giveaway of the author who only a few hours ago had been announced as the Joker's latest victim, and Jason, his face masked under the Red Hood, shakes his head and murmurs, "That makes two of us, Batgirl."

 _116_. Green  
When Jason ends up with Hal Jordan on a training mission a few months after Batman starts letting him out in the field as Robin, he can't help but realize why Batman got so frustrated with this Green Lantern guy, he would not stop talking and showing off, but then again, Jason was a bit of a showoff so he puts up with Hal and pretends to be impressed by the guy's weird powers.

 _117_. Award  
"We should get an award," Donna says with a sigh, cracking her back and passing a hand over her side where the fatal wound had been only a few hours earlier, and Jason silently agrees because resurrection was definitely not as glamorous as it sounded.

 _118_. Acceptance  
"You love me," Dick insists, grinning as he pins Jason to the floor with Jason glaring up at him as he struggles against the hold, but Dick takes the silence as acceptance because he presses a quick kiss to Jason's mouth before letting him up, the grin barely affected when Jason flips him off, muttering under his breath that he still doesn't understand why Barbara ever put up with this idiot.

 _119_. Cut  
Jason's tossed across the room by the hitman he's currently trying to apprehend with Barbara, and she only turns for a second to yell, "Are you OK, Robin?" but that's all it takes, and Jason feels his blood boil when Barbara cries out, stumbling back with a deep slash along her leg from the knife the man had hidden in his boot, so Jason reacts; later, with the bloodied and bruised man handcuffed to the lamppost outside the police station, they head back to the Batcave and the way Barbara looks at him, reprimands him for using excessive violence, that hurts as much as any cut.

 _120_. Forfeit  
"Christ, lady, I forfeit," Jason says, struggling to keep the sai from piercing his neck as she continues to push it closer, Jade Nguyen's grin wide as she leans toward him, her legs bracketing his body where she has him pinned and — _shit, why is Roy laughing?_ — Jason feels a bit of a panic set in because he can't get the upper hand and this woman was even more insane than him, so he calls over to Roy, "Get your crazy ex off me!"

* * *

 _Notes: We're coming to the end with only two more sections to go. However, I don't like ending with just 153 prompts. So, if anyone has a one-word suggestion, leave it in a comment. I'd love to expand this from 153 prompts to 160._

 _Prompts 121-140 next._


	7. Chapter 7

**Missed Exit Signs**  
Prompts 121-140

 _121_. Space  
The one time he's asked to participate in a Justice League mission to some planet he's never heard of before, he scoffs and crosses his arms, only accepting when Wonder Woman flatly tells him Batman's in trouble and he'll be compensated if he helps track down Bruce — secretly, Jason's always dreamed of space travel, though.

 _122_. Railroad  
He's sitting on the bench outside the old railroad station, glaring out at the tracks and the graffiti-covered train cars, when Selina Kyle leaps off the roof of the station and eases herself to the bench, saying with a slanting smile, "You know, he still loves you. You just need to give him a chance," but Jason scoffs and looks away because it never made sense to him that Bruce could forgive Selina's crimes but not those of Jason.

 _123_. Offensive  
The moans from behind the closed door are almost offensively loud, and Jason starts to wonder if Roy and Kori are faking it just to get under his skin.

 _124_. Abject  
"Leave," Bruce says when Jason shows up at the manor after the Joker's latest escape from Arkham, and Tim surprisingly enough tries to get Bruce to change his mind and let Jason help find the lunatic, but Bruce exits the room and Jason laughs bitterly and throws an offhand insult Tim's way before he gives up and leaves, but he stills feels an almost abject sorrow at being cast aside that way.

 _125_. Survival  
After being resurrected, continued survival should have been more important but as he throws himself off ledges and through the glass ceiling of the subway station as Batman and Dick chase after him, with it becoming ever more obvious that Batman suspects who's behind the Red Hood mask, all Jason can think is that he enjoys taunting death almost as much as taunting Bruce.

 _126_. Eventually  
It was always going to happen eventually, especially with Dick disappearing without a word more often than usual, but now with Barbara smelling like whiskey and cigarette smoke, pulling him into his apartment with eager hands, Jason can't help that old guilt that makes everything amazing about her seem painful, so he slowly backs away and says, his voice still gravelly with the desire he's trying to bury, "Let's get you set up on the couch, Barb."

 _127_. Despicable  
His feelings for her have always been there if he's being honest, and he ignores it, pushes her away, and it makes him feel despicable, but even when she teases him, presses close and tells him it's all right, that she wants him, they both know that's not true.

 _128_. Loser  
"What kind of loser leaves a graffiti calling card?" Tim asks with a raised eyebrow as Dick enhances the crime scene photo, recognition hitting and causing his stomach to drop; halfway across Gotham, Jason is laughing.

 _129_. Champion  
"I'm the champion, bitches!" Bette Kane crows, as Wally sends her a high-five and starts pulling off his sweater, adding, "Let's see those boxers, Jay," as Jason glares and reluctantly complies, all the while wondering how he possibly got roped into playing strip-Monopoly with Bette, Wally and Artemis.

 _130_. Fussy  
The fifth time Lian spits out the mushed peas and slams her hand in the mess, he finally gives up, wondering exactly how he had managed to get suckered into babysitting the extremely fussy offspring of Jade and Roy.

 _131_. River  
"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt," Steph says in a singsong, not looking up from the book she's reading, and Jason glares at the book cover and then turns the glare to where Tim is snickering across the room because, no, Jason did not want to forgive Bruce.

 _132_. Fear  
"This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you," the Joker says, his scarred mouth stretching with a grin as he raises the crow bar, and Jason startles awake, sitting up and staring at the shadows in his room, fighting to breathe again.

 _133_. Sleep  
"You're overexerting yourself," Barbara observes over the comlink, no doubt checking his vitals, and Jason brushes off her concern, saying, "I'll be fine as soon as we can nab this asshole and get him off the street," but he doesn't tell her that he hasn't been able to sleep since Scarecrow brought back the nightmare he thought he'd all but put behind him.

 _134_. Underground  
"It's really dark down here," Tim complains as they make their way through the abandoned subway station to which Jason answers with a grin, "No shit, we're underground," earning him a slap upside the head from Barbara.

 _135_. Threat  
"I could have fallen in love with you," Jason says casually one day when he's with Barbara in an alleyway, waiting for a couple of bank robbers to come through in their escape attempt, but the way she gives him a sudden look of alarm makes the words seem wrong, like he'd just uttered a threat, and he doesn't meet her gaze for the rest of the patrol.

 _136_. Hidden  
It had never really been hidden, but Jason isn't quite sure what to say when Barbara looks up from the computer one day and unexpectedly asks, "So how long have you been sleeping with Dick?"

 _137_. Ashamed  
He never should have let Dick kiss him, but he did because he'd always wanted to taste those lips; that was what caused it all to go to hell because what had started out as a one-night stand had caused real, lasting feelings to surface, but now under Barbara's questioning gaze, Jason can't help but feel ashamed because he can't — shouldn't — love them both.

 _138_. Mob  
When he finds his hand slammed against the seat of his motorcycle and a man grinning down at him and pressing a knife against the joint of his ring finger, he almost groans because he really hated the freakin' mob but when he looks past the man and spots Dick in the Nightwing mantle, ready to leap from his vantage point on the shipping container and save the day like a complete douchebag, Jason figures he'd rather deal with the mafia.

 _139_. Joint  
He catches Roy smoking a joint on the balcony of their safe house one day and, knowing full well the man's history with harder drugs, he feels a bit of concern take hold and leans an arm against the railing, glancing back at the chair Roy is leaning back in, Roy's eyes tilted up and watching, waiting, daring Jason to say something, but any word of reproach dies on his lips as he recalls the little good Bruce's lecturing had done for Jason's vices, so Jason silently looks away and ignores the tendrils of thick smoke.

 _140_. Leisure  
"It's beautiful here," Kori says, stretching out her bikini-clad body in the sand as Roy takes a swig from a beer bottle, and Jason had always been one to mix business and leisure, but he'd never had such a tranquil setting to do so and it felt a bit strange to sit back in a beach chair and not have the threat of a fight looming somewhere behind him.

* * *

 _I'm still looking to expand this from 153 prompts to a full 160. I've had two suggestions so far and look forward to any others you might have!_

 _Prompts 141-153 next._


End file.
